The end of our long remodeling nightmare is almost here. Since it appears they won't be grossly over budget, I can finally turn my attention to a new computer. I've been looking around delll, alienware, falconnw, origin, ibuypower and cyberpower websites. It appears most of my motherboard, chipset, component knowledge is outdated. So here I am asking for recommendations. Right now I'm leaning toward intel chip and nvidia video card. I'm willing to be persuaded otherwise. I want to keep it under $2000, ideally closer to $1500. I like to keep my rigs a long time. However, I've never done more than one chip upgrade per motherboard. I'm much more comfortable upgrading memory and video cards. With that in mind, what should I be looking for? Oh, I'd also like to boot from a SSD and have a large mechanical drive for storage. Thanks in advance for the help.

AMD CPU and GPUs are better for performance per dollar. The 7900 series is owning the market overall in terms of performance per dollar and performance in general. NVidia has some super high end stuff, but not worth it if you're keeping to a budget.

However, AMD CPUs are definitely behind Intel CPUs, but are for a fraction of the price for value gaming performance. Intel owns high and even mid level performance right now with the I5 and I7.

I'm about to pickup a 4770 CPU, new motherboard, and memory to go with it and have done the research in that area.

Logically, I know that about AMD GPU's, but then I look at Scraper's post just near this one. I think of all the times I've had problems with ATI drivers. Then I end up getting another Nvidia card. I normally like to keep my rig just below premium price tier. Though I don't even have a name for the price tier the titan lives on. If I can't get a pretty rock solid rig (case, mobo, cpu, cooling, gpu, SSD, HDD, memory) for $2000, I'll just stick with consoles for a while. What's the thinking on sound cards these days?

You don't need a sound card if you get a motherboard with a Realtec 898 or 1150 chipset in it, they're quality. Depending on what you listen to, you'll even do fine with the 892 chip.

That said, the newest generation of sound cards are really good. The ASUS Xonar DG has really good sound for very low cost, some problems with drivers, the Sound Blaster Z has good sound, and reports indicate Creative has fixed most of their driver issues and bloat. Try the DG first.

If you do not intend to use it for a multi-gpu setup of 3 or more gpu's, it's not worth it. It is NOT worth it. For two or fewer gpu's, a z68 or newer mobo with the ability to run dual x8 pci-e slots is plenty. You'd just be wasting your money on the platform. I went this route, and I'm still using my gtx 260. (single) :/ Theoretically I can use two gpu's, and give them a full x16 slot each to play with. Theoretically. And it will make MAYBE 5% difference in the end. If I ever manage to upgrade my gpu. :/

Admittedly I like my 3820 chip. It's a real trooper.

You also will face shortcomings if you try to setup ssd's and raid. the x79 platform uses the enterprise driver set, and it doesnt support trim on raid. (yet)

go with the z68,z77, or z87 (makes sense to go with the latest, but you could save some money there if you wanted) platform, or even look to the amd side of things.

spend more money on the gpu(s) and less money on the cpu. In all but a few games, the gpu is the deciding factor. Going with Team Red, will definitely shave you a few bucks here.

8GB's of ram. Just do it. It doesnt cost that much. And remember x64 on the operating system. Your software will thank you for not having to swap as much. Or at all.

Try looking at a build based on either a bulldozer/piledriver build (am3+), or one of the trinity chips (fm2), with a higher powered gpu making up the difference on cash. You might like what you see.

For two grand, I'd think you could do a lot better than what you've linked so far. Gtx 760? 650? Meh. (the 760's hold their own, about gtx 670 levels). But 2 grand? It's a 250$ card.

After conferring with a friend, I'd like to add something, because I didn't make it clear in my post.

The custom liquid cooled cpu setups and custom cases linked in those four builds, will NOT make the wimpy underpowered vs the cpu graphics cards go any faster. They also involve actual water inside your case, so if you have trouble with them... you have water inside your case. This does not mean watercooling doesnt work. But it also DOES mean it's not necessarily for the casual gamer.

Yeah, on the CPU, look for an i5 and if you have any remote interest in overclocking, a k series is a must have.Don't be fooled into thinking an i7 is better because it is more expensive.

Have you considered building your own system? I was afraid of it for so long, but I built two in the last year and change, and it is really fun and rewarding. It can be time consuming, if you really want to dig in and choose every individual component, but you could also get a build from a website or a magazine. I was going to suggest Sharky Extreme's build guides, but it looks like they stopped last year. MaximumPC has them, and I'm sure plenty of other places do as well. At the least, I would look at some of those and compare what you might get from DIY vs buying pre-built.

Well, my pc just died (ok, well, probably just the power supply, but it's 5 years old and I'm pretending it's all dead).

Not shooting for anything top of the line or real focused on OC, so happy with a Dell refurbished deal. I feel bad buying Dell as a gamer, no cool features like my past cyberpowerpc, but a deal is a deal.

I went by Fry's today to see if anything could inspire an impulse purchase. Almost all their display models were low end. There were three units that, based on specs, should have made for a decent rig. Not one of the three would boot to the desktop. Way to inspire confidence guys. My son liked the paint job on the ibuypower rig. My wife thought it was too gaudy. I mainly cared that it wouldn't boot. First time I'd ever seen one and it didn't work.

They did have this ASUS in stock, but it wasn't on display. Nothing about it (including the price) screamed buy me. I went home empty handed. I guess it's time to start research again.

I went by Fry's today to see if anything could inspire an impulse purchase. Almost all their display models were low end. There were three units that, based on specs, should have made for a decent rig. Not one of the three would boot to the desktop. Way to inspire confidence guys. My son liked the paint job on the ibuypower rig. My wife thought it was too gaudy. I mainly cared that it wouldn't boot. First time I'd ever seen one and it didn't work.

They did have this ASUS in stock, but it wasn't on display. Nothing about it (including the price) screamed buy me. I went home empty handed. I guess it's time to start research again.

I've never bought a pre-built rig, but for that same money I imagine you could get a lot more system if you built it yourself.

Agh, definitely don't get that Alienware box. Again, see above what I got when Dell was having a 25% off outlet/refurbished deal. Essentially the same box for $750 shipped. At least the Cyberpower kicks it up a notch.

Thank you. One day I'll get a Falcon NW rig, but not now. Maybe after the baby's through with college. Anyway, I did end up getting a Cyberpower rig similar to the last one I posted. Perhaps I should have paid for the expedited build since I ended up waiting 8 business days for them to get to me in the queue. It's pretty sweet though. It's lighter, faster and quieter.

Right now I hate Windows 8, but that's only because it's different than what I'm used to. I think it could grow on me. The mere seconds to boot is nice though. It will probably be even better after 8.1.

Are there any good USB 3.0 hubs out there? Reviews seem to indicate a lot of disconnect problems with removable hard drives.